Method and apparatus for the separation of manure and sand

A method for separating manure from sand in a manure and sand mixture wherein the sand has been used as a bedding for an animal which produces the manure, which comprises:

• (a) introducing the manure and sand mixture into an apparatus which comprises:
• a tank having a top portion spaced above a bottom portion for holding an aqueous suspension into which the manure and sand mixture is fed;
• a perforate means mounted in the tank between the top and bottom portion of the tank such as to prevent the mixture fed into the top portion of the tank from falling rapidly to the bottom portion of the tank;
• a fluid supply means mounted on the tank for introducing fluid into the tank which agitates the aqueous suspension and separates the manure and the sand from the manure and sand mixture such that the sand passes through the perforate means and the manure is dispersed in the aqueous suspension;
• sand removal means mounted at the lower portion of the tank for removing the sand from the tank;
• and manure removal means provided on the tank for removing the manure dispersed in the aqueous suspension from the tank after the sand has been separated from the manure;
• (b) activating the fluid supply means until most of the sand is in the bottom portion of the tank;
• and
• (c) removing the manure dispersed in the aqueous suspension from the tank through the manure removal means and removing the sand from the tank through the sand removal means.